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Zaandam a grand ship

Sail Date:
August 2010

Destination:
Alaska

Embarkation:
Seattle

Our cabin was at the back of the ship directly below the Rotterdam dining room. While the first 2 nights were relatively quiet, the 3rd and 4th nights it sounded like they were bowling. Lots of banging, and dropping stuff that sounded like bowling balls. When I inquired by phone at the front desk I was offered ear plugs. The trip to Juneau was a bit rough but I did not get sea sick. Hardly any engine noise, and the lull of the engines and the constant rocking was a great way for me to get to sleep. Lido.....buffet, the scrambled eggs were way to runny and greasy, when I decided to order fresh scrambled at the omelet/eggs to order area the server directed me back to the runny eggs. I was finally able to convince him to cook my eggs hard scrambled with no oil. This seemed to totally rattle him. There was a definite language barrier, most food servers/waiters were from Indonesia. Overall the food on the buffet was lukewarm at it's best. There is a part of the Lido which is converted at More
night to an Italian restaurant (reservations required). The lasagna is not made with ricotta or mozzarella cheese, instead they pour some kind of cheese sauce over the top. I passed on this and ordered the Chicken Marsala....wrong there too, it came with BROWN GRAVY.....of which I just left. Not sure where they get their Italian recipe's.

Rotterdam Dining Room......The meringue on the Baked Alaska was rushed and tasted like soft serve, hardly any browning of the meringue. The fillet Mignon was more like a thick rib eye, but the shrimp was delicious. Room Stewards......We had two of the best on the ship, Haryanto (Harry) and Zaini. They were without a doubt the most friendly of the staff on the ship. They always had a smile, a hello and had time to chat. Hats off to both of them. Disembarking..........was insane. as we carried our own luggage we were in the last group to get off the ship. We were originally to disembark at deck 3 which was great as that is where our cabin was. There was problems and we were told to go to deck 2. Since everyone was going to deck 2 we waited it out and then came a staff person that said deck 3 would be available shortly. After 20-30 minutes we were directed to another area on deck 3, waited there another 20-30 minutes then directed back to the original area. By this time it was 10am, we found out that the computer that scans your ship card was not working. Common sense finally prevailed and we were just asked for out cabin number which they wrote down and we were finally off.

Excursions.........were fantastic. Took a small boat and saw whales, otters, eagles, seals and yes!!! a puffin. The day long cruising of Glacier Bay was beautiful and surpassed by expectations. This was on the pricey side but worth every penny. Sadly our excursion to Butchart Gardens was no where near the amount required to appreciate this spectacular area. The ship was in port (Victoria) only 4 hours. It took 45 minutes each way to get to and from the Gardens, we got back to the ship at 11:15 and it departed at 11:35. They could have just skipped this port and added more time at one of the others, either Ketchikan or Sitka.

Cabin, was spacious enough, we had an outside cabin with a large window. However the carpet had many stains and the old hair dryer was till there, that would burn your hand it got so hot. We eventually found the smaller one that was hidden way back in the top drawer of the vanity. The pillows were way too soft, needed 3 to get comfortable. The pillow top mattress's were very comfortable. Less

Compare Prices on Zaandam Alaska Cruises

Cabin review: Zaandam

The cabin was a good size, outside cabin with a window, the carpet was badly stained, hair dryer was the old one, that burned the hand it got so hot.The smaller one was stashed away in the back of the top drawer of the vanity. The closets were very ample and had lots of storage space. The beds were very comfortable but the pillows need improvement.

Port and Shore Excursions

I can't figure why we even stopped here. Paid $69 to see Victoria Gardens. Had a 45 minute bus trip each way which gave us very little time to see the splendor of this place. We got back to our ship at 11:15 and the ship left at 11:35. The actual admission price was $28 so I guess the cost of the bus was $20 each way. A waste of time and money. Use these 4 hours to spend more time at another port.